(a) Every owner of a motor vehicle, trailer or other vehicle,
shall, within thirty days after taking up residence in the state,
apply to the division and obtain registration and title for the
vehicle.

(b) For the purposes of this chapter there is a rebuttable
presumption that a natural person is a resident of this state if
any of the following elements exist including, but not limited to:

(1) The person is registered to vote in this state.

(2) The person enrolls the person's child to be educated in a
public elementary or secondary school in this state.

(3) The person is receiving public assistance from this state.

(4) The person resides or has continuously remained in this
state for a period exceeding thirty days except for infrequent or
brief absences.

(5) The person has accepted employment or engages in any
trade, profession, or occupation within this state, except that
this does not include a person who is commuting from the person's
residence in another state or whose employment is seasonal or
temporary, not exceeding ninety days.

(6) The person has filed for a homestead tax exemption on
property in this state.

"Resident" does not include a person who is attending a
college, university or other educational institution in this state,
if the person has a domicile in another state and has a valid
operator's license and vehicle registration issued by the state of
domicile. "Resident" also does not include members of the armed forces that are stationed in West Virginia providing that their
vehicles are properly registered in their state of residence or a
member of the armed forces stationed in another state or country
providing that their vehicles are properly registered in that state
or country.

A corporation, association, partnership, company or firm whose
principal place of business is located within this state is a
resident of this state.

The provisions of this section shall not apply to vehicles
registered under proportional registration agreement.

Note: WV Code updated with legislation passed through the 2016 Regular Session
The West Virginia Code Online is an unofficial copy of the annotated WV Code, provided as a convenience. It has NOT been edited for publication, and is not in any way official or authoritative.